


The Hidden Lotus

by Briana_Dubs



Category: Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Naruto
Genre: Cupcake Shop, F/F, F/M, I just really feel like the new sand siblings would adore metal immediately, M/M, everyone loves metal, humans with no powers, it's just, lee and gaara bonding along with their kids, lee basically raised her, like a school au and a cupcake shop au, sarada and metal are like siblings because sakura has to work all the time and sasuke is never there
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-10
Updated: 2019-04-11
Packaged: 2020-01-07 15:32:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18413522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Briana_Dubs/pseuds/Briana_Dubs
Summary: Okay, so I started writing this literally an entire year ago and it isn't finished but I knew if I didn't post any of it now, I would never post any of it. So here's my GaaLee cupcake shop au.Gaara and his three kids move into town and meet the sweet single father, Rock Lee, who runs the local cupcake shop and his son. The kids bond almost instantly and friendships blossom!All this and more at The Hidden Lotus cupcake shop!(Gaara is a botanist but I don't know much about plants, so I don't write all that much about it.)





	1. Welcome to Chapter One!

It had been a slow morning in the cupcake shop. If Lee had four hands he could have counted all their customers on them. He did not mind, though, because three young women had come in earlier and complimented his son on how cute he was. How could they not? Metal was the cutest little bean!

Speaking of Metal, since school wasn’t going to start for a week, he had been helping around the shop all day. He must have been getting tired. Calling to his son, Lee said, “Metal, why don’t you take a moment to rest? I will clean off that last table, okay?”

“Okay, Papa!” his tiny, precious, wonderful son said before scrambling behind the counter and climbing onto the stool near the cash register. That stool had originally been put in for Lee’s father in-law. He had said he had poor arch support, but Lee knew he didn’t. His actual father was in a wheelchair now, but he still stood at the counter when he wanted to help out. Even though he really shouldn’t. His father was a very spry man, even with his injuries. Lee hoped to be as active as him in his old age. His father even owned and ran a dojo. Right next door. They had installed a door connecting the cupcake shop to the dojo years ago. Even before Metal was born. If they ever sold the buildings that door would probably have to go. Lee grimaced at the very thought of it.

As he wiped the table Lee heard the jingle of the bell attached to the entrance door. He lifted his head and he and his son shouted greetings in unison. “Welcome to the Hidden Lotus organic cupcake shop!”

The newest customers consisted of a man with bright red hair who looked a bit younger than Lee did and three children all roughly around Metal’s age. Two with brown hair and a blonde girl. One of them was wearing a mask. Lee would have questioned it if his father in-law, Kakashi, didn’t wear a mask every chance he got.

Lee quickly walked to the counter to join his son. The three kids had all rushed over to the glass display where the cupcakes were to ogle the sweets. The red haired man followed behind them, just at a slightly slower pace.

“My name is Rock Lee!” He greeted them with a big smile. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen your smiling faces around here before!”

The three kids blinked up at him for a moment. The man with them extended his hand toward Lee. Once Lee took it he spoke. “Gaara. We just moved to town yesterday. The kids saw your shop as we drove to our house and demanded we come see it once we finished unpacking.”

“Oh my! You unpacked everything in one day?!” Lee was genuinely impressed. “When I moved here it took my father and I two and a half days!”

The kid with the mask stood up on his tiptoes and said, “We didn’t have much stuff with us.”

“Oh?” Lee lowered himself a little. “Why is that?”

“Too much old stuff that belonged to our grandpa to fit new stuff,” he answered.

Metal piped up at that. “My grandpa keeps all his stuff in his apartment!”

The three kids turned their heads to him. The girl piped up. “Woah, hang on, are you his kid?” She pointed at Lee.

Gaara frowned down at her. “Yodo,” he scolded, “It’s rude to point.”

“It is all right,” Lee said. “Go ahead, Metal.”

“Y-yeah, my name’s Metal Lee, and this is my dad.”

Yodo rolled her hand and asked, “So do you, like, live here?”

“Our apartment is behind the shop, yeah,” Metal replied.

The third child, who Lee noticed had purple make up on his face in strange E shapes, jumped up and shouted, “So do you get to eat cupcakes all the time!?”

Gaara sighed at the question, Lee chuckled, and the other two kids leaned in closer to Metal to hear his answer. Metal was visibly sweating as he answered. “W-well we can have cupcakes whenever we w-want, but you get sick of the sweets pretty fast.”

The kid with the purple make up spun himself around and looked up at Gaara. “Dad, can we stay and eat here?”

“Yes, Shinki, we can, go ahead and order what you want.”

“Can you come to our table and tell us about living in a cupcake store!?” Shinki asked, whirling back around and pointing right in Metal’s face. Lee saw the visible droop in Gaara’s shoulders at the return of the pointing, but he just smiled at it. Kids were forgetful. And spiteful when they wanted to be.

The boy with the mask ordered one of the strawberry vanilla cupcakes, but was very specific about ordering the one that had the prettiest slice of strawberry on the top. Yodo ordered a triple chocolate cupcake and Shinki ordered a cinnamon one. They refused to leave the counter until Metal scooted off the stool and joined them. Lee watched with a fond smile as his son was dragged away with the new kids.

Gaara took a moment to look Lee over. It wasn’t really a secret that Lee worked out. His exposed arms told stories of exercise that made Gaara tired just to imagine. Scars all over bulging muscles. Not exactly the type of person Gaara would have pictured running an organic cupcake shop.

“So… cupcakes, huh?”

Lee turned his wide eyes on Gaara, blinking owlishly at him. “Oh, yes!” he laughed, rubbing the back of his neck, “Actually I had originally wanted to set up a curry shop but I’ve been told my preferred spice level is enough to kill a man! But it’s all right because I do good business here and the cupcakes are so cute!”

With a chuckle, Gaara said, “Yes, I suppose they are cute.” He peered down into the cupcake display, staring directly at some cupcakes garnished with red blossoms.

Lee quickly moved forward. “Oh, those flowers are edible!” he said, “If you’d like one, I could-“

Gaara stopped him with another chuckle. “I know they’re edible. Those are Bee Balm.” Lee blinked as he named the flower. “I’m a botanist,” Gaara explained, “That’s actually why we moved here. I transferred to work at the university here in town.”

“Ohhh,” Lee awed at him, “That is quite impressive. Someone so young working at such a prestigious school!”

Gaara laughed at that. Outright laughed. Not the little chuckles like before. “That’s very flattering, but I’m thirty two. I’m not that young anymore.”

Cheeks pink but not embarrassed, never embarrassed, Lee said, “You look much younger. I had thought you were in your twenties.”

“Oh, gosh, I hope not,” Gaara said, turning to look at the four kids, “They’re all twelve. Imagine me a father at eight years old.”

“I did not say twenty exactly!” Lee countered back, now actually embarrassed. He calmed down pretty quickly though and looked at the kids. “So all three of them are your children, then?”

“Yes. I adopted Shinki first when he was three. Next came Yodo and then finally Araya. They’ve been a wonderful experience.” Gaara watched his kids interact with Metal. “I see you stopped at one, though. Sometimes I wonder why I didn’t.”

“Children are difficult to explain,” Lee said, smiling fondly as Metal struck the family pose. Thumbs up, wink, and one hand on the hip. That was his boy. “They are not right for everyone, but if you find yourself feeling complete with kids, then who could blame you for adopting more?”

“You’re very wise for your age, as well,” Gaara said, smiling at Lee. “He looks just like you.”

Lee looked over at Metal and laughed a little bit. “Really? Every time I look at him I don’t know where he got that face. He is much too cute to be my son.”

A sudden shout from Shinki made both men jump and they rushed over to the table of pre-teens. “Dad!” Shinki shouted, looking at Gaara, “They have a dojo nextdoor! I could learn how to do Karate!”

Gaara sighed at the knowledge it was not a shout of pain. Metal quickly spoke up saying they don’t do Karate but he could learn some other techniques that his grandpa knows. “The dojo is my father’s,” Lee said. “I’m sure if you wanted lessons I could get you a discount.”

The kids cheered at that, but Gaara said, “You don’t have to do that. If they get lessons I can pay full price.”

“My papa is my grandpa’s best student!” Metal exclaimed, “He’s never lost to anybody!”

“You guys live in a cupcake shop and you get to fight people all the time!? Dad, can we live here?!” Araya was the one shouting this time, but Shinki was nodding so vigorously Lee worried he’d give himself whiplash. Yodo was surprisingly calm during all this.

After Gaara explained to the three kids why they could not live there and crushed all their little dreams, they said they should leave. “How much do I owe you for what they ordered?” Gaara opened his wallet as he asked.

“Oh, no, no,” Lee put up a hand, “You just moved here. Consider this a welcome to the neighborhood present.”

Gaara looked skeptical, raising a brow at Lee. It was at that moment Lee suddenly seemed to notice Gaara had a tattoo on his forehead. How he had missed that, he would never know.

Lee and Metal said their goodbyes to the new neighbors and got back to work around the shop.


	2. Chapter Two Hurted

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kiss kiss

Gaara sat at his table sipping tea and reading the rules he had been given from the University. It was a surprisingly thick book. His kids were each eating their breakfasts, or well, two of them were. Araya was first shaping his eggs into a face. He was very particular about things looking pretty.

“That cupcake place was pretty cool yesterday,” Shinki commented.

Yodo nodded in agreement. “I’m jealous of that Metal kid. He can have cupcakes whenever he wants, whatever flavor he wants.”

“Yes, but if he did that he would make himself sick,” Gaara said, flipping to the next page.

“It’s still cool that he has the option, though…”

“Can we go there for my birthday?” Araya asked as he scooped his eggs into his mouth.

Gaara smiled at his son. “We can go wherever you would like, Araya. It’s your birthday, you choose.”

Araya nodded with a very serious expression. “We’re going there, then.”

“Your birthday’s like a week away,” Shinki said, “I have to wait four months for mine!”

“You’ll still get cupcakes, dumby,” Yodo said.

“Yodo, name-calling,” Gaara scolded absentmindedly.

“Sorry dad…”

“Don’t apologize to me, apologize to your brother.”

With a huff, Yodo groaned out, “Sorry, Shinki.”

“That Lee guy was kinda funny,” Shinki said, switching topic back to the Hidden Lotus. Gaara gave up on his book at this point and set it down to listen to what he was about to say. “If you’re such a good fighter why would you make cupcakes? That’s not very scary.”

“Maybe he didn’t want to be scary,” Gaara said, voice calm and soothing, “He has a child and at one point Metal must have been a baby. Would you want to scare a baby?”

“Not really,” Shinki said, making a face, “They always cry.”

Gaara smiled at that. “That’s what babies do.”

“Yeah well I don’t like it.”

“Actually I talked to Lee. Apparently he wanted to make a curry shop but he thought cupcakes were cuter.”

Araya adjusted his favorite mask onto his face. “He’s right,” he said, “Cupcakes are a lot cuter than curry is.”

“Everything is cuter than curry is,” Yodo said.

Gaara had spent the remaining days until the school year started shopping for things he and his kids needed. Clothes, food, toiletries, the works. They of course picked out what they wanted, but didn’t argue if he bought more vegetables for them to eat than sweets or snacks. They knew their dad was weird about plants. His cactus room was evidence of that.

When he dropped them off at school the first day he frowned when he saw Araya wearing his mask. “Araya, you can’t wear that to school.”

“Yes I can!” Araya countered back, “I read their code of conduct on the computer! They say you can’t wear hats, spaghetti strap shirts, and shirts with offensive messages or pictures! There’s nothing in there about masks!”

“My God, you’re going to be a lawyer when you grow up…”

“Bye, dad!” all three kids shouted as they scrambled out of the car. Gaara watched them go with a smile. He noticed a familiar head of shiny black hair and paused to consider waving to Rock and Metal Lee. He decided against it and just watched the father walk his son to school, hug him tight, and kiss the top of his head before the smaller Lee sprinted into the building. It was a touching scene that Gaara didn’t get to enjoy long, because the woman in the car behind him slammed on her horn and ruined the moment. With an irritated huff, he pulled away and drove toward the university.

His first class was at ten in the morning. He knew for young adults in this age group even that was early. He started off by saying he knew better than any of them what it was like to be a night owl and explained his struggles with insomnia. He remembered all too well how much he hated all the get to know you activities his professors had always done on the first day, so he decided to simplify it down and ask the students what their favorite plants were. “I don’t want your names, I just want to hear the plants,” he clarified when the first girl started to say her name.

“Why don’t you want our names?” one boy asked, looking skeptical.

Gaara lifted up a clipboard on his desk that had their photos on it. Each name was beside the corresponding picture. “I have a fairly good memory. I’ve already been looking this over memorizing names and faces. But this class is about plants, not people. So I’ll start. I enjoy the Rainbow Hedgehog Cactus. Now it’s your turn.”

His classes went by slowly. Since it was only the first day he couldn’t really start much of the curriculum. He tried his best, but the minute he suggested it he heard each class groan collectively. He had checked his phone during his lunchbreak, which he didn’t really need, to be sure his kids didn’t need anything, and then went back to work. Scribbling out which kids had dropped his class the day before school started.

When he got home he called out a hello to the kids and quickly went to the kitchen to start dinner. As he chopped herbs the three of them scampered into the room. “Dad, dad, dad!!” Shinki was bouncing on his toes as he shouted. “You’ll never guess what!!”

Smiling, Gaara said, “I give up. What?”

“Metal’s in our classes!” Shinki’s smile was so big. It was matched by Yodo’s and Araya’s.

“Oh really? Well that must have been nice, already having a friend on your first day.” Gaara swept the herbs into the skillet.

“He introduced us to his friends today,” Yodo said, “He knows almost everybody.”

“Really?”

“Apparently his dad grew up with everybody’s parents or something,” she said, swiping a small slice of bok choy from her father’s cutting board. “Cousin Shikadai goes to school here, too dad!”

Gaara paused with a hum. That was right, Gaara forgot his sister had mentioned that to him before their move. “Well we will have to visit Aunt Temari some time, then won’t we? What else happened today?”

Araya took a piece as well, one with little leaves on the end, and said, “He’s really nice… Metal, I mean… One of his friends was kind of rude, though.”

“There was more than one, Araya,” Yodo said.

“Maybe they didn’t mean to be rude,” Gaara said, “Maybe they came off that way since they’ve never met you before.”

“Three teachers tried to get me in trouble for my mask today, dad!” Araya announced, switching topics. “Three!”

“And what did you say to them?”

“He quoted the freaking code of conduct,” Shinki said, going and grabbing plates and utensils. “Word for word, dad.”

Gaara laughed at that and ruffled Araya’s hair. “You’re definitely going to become a lawyer when you grow up.”

After they ate dinner the kids finished up their homework, which was having Gaara sign a whole bunch of forms and permission slips and make notes of events going on at the school, and watched some television. Gaara honestly felt their homework was more work for him than for them. He was still writing down plays and parent teacher conferences and open houses into his calendar. The first parent teacher night wasn’t for a month. The open house was in a little over a week. He wondered at how early that was, but he assumed it would mostly be a tour of the school.

“Metal showed us a picture of his grandpa today, too, dad,” Araya said, turning to look back at Gaara. Gaara looked up at his words. “All three of them look like clones.”

“All three of them?”

“Yeah, Lee, Metal, and Metal’s grandpa. They look the same,” Araya said.

Gaara chuckled. “Strong family genetics, then.”

“His grandpa has a husband with one eye,” Shinki announced. “He was in the picture too. He had an eyepatch.”

“Did he tell you how he lost his eye?” Gaara asked, curious what the answer would be.

Yodo replied. “He said he got hurt in the war. Same with his grandpa. Did you know Metal’s grandpa is in a wheelchair?”

“I did not know that.”

“Yeah, I asked him how he teaches karate if he’s in a wheelchair, but Metal said they don’t do karate and he’s just not able to stay standing for long because he has a lot of pain in one leg.” Yodo was chewing gum and blowing bubbles as she spoke. Every few words there was a pop.

“He said his foot was basically disintegrated!” Shinki shouted, arms going wide.

Gaara blinked a few times at his kids. “That sounds like it must hurt.” He looked at his calendar and smiled seeing his note about Araya’s birthday with the little hearts his son had drawn in. It was two days away. Which reminded him. “Araya,” he called his attention. When he son turned to look at him again, he asked, “Was there a specific flavor of cupcake you wanted for your birthday? I think I would like to make sure Lee makes a special batch.”

“Black Raspberry,” Araya answered without a second thought. Gaara chuckled and wrote it down in his planner to ask Lee during his lunch break tomorrow if he could make a special batch of black raspberry cupcakes.


	3. Chapter Three

Gaara dropped his kids off again the next morning, somehow ending up at the end of the line of cars. He didn’t really care, he was willing to pull up closer but his kids said where they were was good.

“Tell Shikadai that I’m hoping to see him and his mother on your birthday, Araya,” Gaara said.

Araya whined. “Aw, dad! We hardly ever had birthdays with them before! Does this mean this is gonna become a thing?”

“He doesn’t have to go with us when you get your cupcakes but I at least expect him to acknowledge his cousin’s birthday.” After he said it, Gaara watched Araya huff a couple times before he turned and ran into the building.

After two classes had gone by, Gaara took his hour long lunch break to drive to the Hidden Lotus. It should be plenty of time. When he stepped inside the shop he saw a man with spiky gray hair standing behind the counter. He had been facing away, but he turned to look in his direction when he heard the bell. The man had an eyepatch and a mask covering the lower half of his face. This must have been the man his kids were telling him about. Lee’s other father.

“Yo,” the man greeted him once he got up to the counter.

“Hello… Is, um, is Lee back there?”

Tapping on the counter with a small red book, the man called in the direction of the back of the shop, “Oy, Lee! You got a customer looking for you!” Gaara heard a clank sound in response and then what sounded like an oven closing a little too quickly.

Lee came up into the front with a pink apron on. It had frogs adorning it and more stains than Gaara could count. He was wiping a glass off with the end of it. “What is it, Kakashi?” Lee paused when he saw him standing at the counter. “Oh! Gaara! This is quite the pleasant surprise! What brings you in today by yourself?”

He had set the glass he was cleaning down and Gaara paused to look at it. “Actually, I came to request you make a special batch of cakes tomorrow,” he said, looking back up at the man. “It’s Araya’s birthday and he asked if we could come here.”

Lee’s whole face seemed to light up at that. “Oh really? That is wonderful! I would be happy to! What would he like?” Lee pulled a little notepad out from inside the counter and flipped to a blank page.

“He wants black raspberry. It isn’t too much trouble is it? I’m sure he would be fine with something else if I explain to him…”

After tapping his pen down one last time, Lee grinned at him. “No trouble at all! I actually get special requests for events quite a lot!”

The man with him, Kakashi, Lee had said, rolled his visible eye. “You get so many requests because you never tell anybody no.” From the door close to the back of the shop there was a deep voice shouting for Kakashi, so the man gave the two of them a quick salute before he walked off.

Gaara watched his back. “Your father’s husband?” he asked, glancing at Lee.

Lee looked startled. “How did you-?”

“Metal showed the kids a photo yesterday,” he quickly explained. Lee made a soft ‘oh’ noise and visibly relaxed. “They said you look just like your father.” He had to step aside as a woman came in to order something, but remained close to continue to talk.

Lee never seemed to stop smiling. “I’ve been told,” he said, “My father got lucky when he adopted me, I suppose. No one questions that we’re father and son.”

Now it was Gaara’s turn to look startled. Adopted? Araya had said they looked like clones, hadn’t he? Could they have really gotten that lucky in finding each other? When Lee saw the look on his face he laughed and pulled out his wallet. He held it close to Gaara so he could see the photos inside. Lots of pictures of a baby that looked very much like Lee. He assumed those were Metal. And then one picture of a boy with Lee’s heavy eyebrows and shiny hair, but with it tied back in a long braid standing with a man who looked almost exactly like Lee did now in front of a sign that said “Welcome to the family!”

He really did look exactly like the man. And yet they weren’t related at all. “Wow,” was all he could say.

“I imagine if he could my father would have adopted every child he saw that was struggling,” Lee said, tucking the wallet away again. “He has a very big heart.”

“It sounds it.”

Picking up the glass again, Lee asked, “Were you going to stay for a while? I have plenty of food if you are hungry.”

“Oh,” Gaara blinked, “No, no. That’s all right. I have to get back to the university anyway. My lunch break is almost over.”

“Very well! Then I will see you tomorrow, Gaara! When should I expect you and little Yodo, Shinki and Araya?” Lee had such an open face. His emotions were so obvious. He looked so eager to hear Gaara’s answer.

“It will probably be around six.”

“Six it is, then!”


	4. Birthday

Lee had been perfecting his black raspberry recipe since Gaara’s visit yesterday. Somehow hearing that from his kids after school the next day hadn’t surprised Gaara at all. If it had been meant to be a secret, clearly Metal could not keep one. Still, it was nice to know that Lee wanted to make sure Araya enjoyed his treat.

Temari had called Gaara during the day and arranged to meet them with Shikadai and her husband at the Hidden Lotus. He was happy to hear his sister would be bringing the whole family. It had been a while since he had seen Shikamaru.

Pushing open the door to the cupcakery, Gaara let his kids rush inside ahead of him. Lee’s smiling face was at the counter as usual and he greeted them with his slightly too loud voice. “Happy birthday, Araya!” he said, leaning down to smile at Gaara’s son. “Go, go, sit, I will bring you a special plate!”

“Metal!” Shinki jumped forward when he saw the tiny Lee come from the back room. “Metal, come sit with us!” Metal looked up at his father and when Lee nodded to him, he scurried around to join the others.

The kids had settled themselves down at one of the bigger tables. Lee was arranging a large assortment of cupcakes on a big round plate and Gaara immediately asked him if he needed help. “No, no! Do not worry! I am fine!” he lifted the plate up with one hand, illustrating his point. Before Lee could get out from behind the counter the bell on the door jingled and they both stopped to look.

“Temari,” Gaara smiled at his sister. They each quickly approached each other and embraced in a long overdue hug. Temari’s husband greeted Lee as they did. “It’s good to see you.”

“Good to see you too, dweeb,” Temari said, ruffling his hair. “Even after all these years, you’re still short.”

“Years of insomnia will stunt your growth, I guess.”

“Cousin Shikadai!” Araya shouted to the little boy hanging by Temari’s legs. “Come on, we can’t eat until you sit with us!”

It would never not startle Gaara how much Shikadai looked like his father. The same dark spiky hair, the same chubby face his father had when he was young. The only bit of Temari he saw in him was her eyes.

“I did not know you and Temari were related!” Lee said, looking at the two of them, still holding a tray of cupcakes over his shoulder with one hand.

“She’s my sister,” Gaara said. “We have another brother too.”

Temari plopped her hand on top of his head and chortled. “Guess which one of us is the baby of the group!” Gaara pushed her hand off with a slightly embarrassed huff. His lack of sleep in his youth had severely stunted his growth. It wasn’t his fault.

“I am not sure I could guess!” Lee said as he carried the plate to the five kids. “Gaara already looks so much younger than he actually is!”

“He’s got permanent baby face,” Temari said, nudging him. Gaara rolled his eyes and looked to Shikamaru for sympathy. He didn’t get much more than a shrug from the man. When he finally looked at the cupcakes, he realized Lee had styled them all to look like one big black raspberry. He even had two cupcakes decorated as a stem connecting to it. He smiled at the extra level of detail. He knew Araya would appreciate that artistic touch.

“Woah! That’s like a hundred cupcakes!” Shinki shouted, looking down at the plate.

Yodo was counting them. “There’s sixty two,” she said, “Pretty cool, though. It’s like those cupcake cake things we’ve seen on TV.”

“Papa likes to do those,” Metal said. Araya was the one who had to pick a cupcake first before the others did. Once he had his perfect pastry the others grabbed what they wanted. It looked a bit like a frenzy.

Temari stood watching the kids talk as they ate, grabbing a few cupcakes for the adults and passing them off. “It’s good to see they’re all getting along,” she said. “Shikadai will have to go hang out with his friends now. Since they’re family and all.”

Shikamaru chuckled at that. “He’ll still find an excuse to nap all day.”

“He is your son, after all,” Temari said begrudgingly. “How have things been with you, Lee? How’s Gai doing?”

Gaara turned his gaze to look at Lee as he answered. He assumed Gai must have been Lee’s father. “Oh, he is doing fine. Kakashi helps him with his medication when he needs it and when he thinks he doesn’t.”

“Where are they tonight, anyway?” Shikamaru asked.

Lee smiled. “It is date night. They are at the dog park.”

Shikamaru groaned. “Ugh, that sounds like a drag… Being all romantic and junk.”

“I take it you do not have a dog, Gaara?” Lee asked. “We have not seen you there.”

Gaara shook his head. “No, no dogs. I was never allowed to have pets when I was young and I guess I never wanted one once I got old.”

“You are not old!” Lee squawked. “You are younger than I am!”

“By a year,” Shikamaru said.

Temari chuckled. “We would have gotten a dog or something if Shikadai had ever seemed to want one. Maybe we’ll get a cat. One that’s real old and lazy so he has someone to sleep around the house with.”

“Then he’d never leave the house, Tem,” Shikamaru said with a bit of a smirk.


	5. Sasuke is a Flake

Rock Lee had never really liked parent teacher conferences. He was always being questioned about his decision to be a single father. He would always explain that he had his father’s support with Metal as well, but somehow the teachers always forgot. Open houses weren’t so bad, though. Most of the teachers were happy to see him when he went to the open houses because apparently a lot of times the fathers of their students don’t go. Lee could never understand that. Why wouldn’t you want to go? It was one more opportunity to involve yourself in your child’s life!

Most of the time with open houses Lee would bring his friend Sakura’s daughter. Sakura worked ridiculous hours at the local hospital and little Sarada’s father was a bit of a flake if Lee had to be honest. He didn’t know where he went, but Sasuke never seemed to be around. Metal practically considered Sarada a sister by the time they were six. They spent a lot of time together especially when she was young because of Sakura’s job as head surgeon. Lee didn’t mind. Sarada was a good kid. She was walking with Lee and Metal right now asking them about the new kids. After a week Metal had grown very close with Gaara’s kids. He imagined they would probably have sleepovers together eventually.

“Their dad is a botanist,” Metal said to Sarada. “Yodo told me he has an entire room full of nothing but cacti.”

Sarada made a face. “A whole room? That’s weird.”

“It’s probably so pretty when they bloom, though… Don’t you think Papa?”

Lee smiled. “Yes, I am sure it must be. Cactus flowers are very beautiful.”

“Not as pretty as Lotus flowers, though!”

When they got to the school Lee heard someone shouting for Metal. The three of them paused and looked around until they spotted the bright blonde streak that was Yodo being flanked by her brothers hurtling toward them. The three of them practically tackled Metal once they reached him.

“Gaara,” Lee greeted once he caught up with his kids, “It is good to see you again.”

“Likewise.”

Yodo let go of Metal to look curiously at the other member of their party. “Sarada? Why are you here with Metal and his dad?”

“Oh, my mom works at the hospital,” she said, “I’ve been going to stuff like this with Metal for years. Lee’s been taking care of me when my mom’s busy since I was a baby.”

“That’s very kind of you,” Gaara commented, making Lee flush.

He laughed sheepishly. “It is nothing. Sakura and I have been close since we were teenagers! It is the least I can do for a friend in need!”

“My mom said you liked her,” Sarada said, looking up at Lee. Now Lee’s flush was three shades darker.

“I-it was just a crush! I have grown out of it! We should head inside now!” The kids all jumped and bounced into the school and the two adults followed. “This will mostly be for you, I think, Gaara.” When Gaara raised a brow, Lee explained. “Well, it is just that I have already seen all of this many many times. This will be your first time.”

Gaara smirked. “Popping the proverbial cherry, eh?” Lee went so red in the face and spluttered so loudly at that Gaara couldn’t hold back a loud snort and laugh.

“W-we are in a school! There are children around!” He squawked, eyes wide as the cupcakes he served. Gaara continued to gigglesnort at him for a moment before he eventually calmed his breathing. “That was not an appropriate joke to make.”

Gaara weakly pat his hand against Lee’s shoulder and said, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I’ll stop.”

“Dad! Dad this is our science room! Look we have an ivy plant hanging from the ceiling!” Yodo was shouting down to them from a good fifteen feet away.

“I’m coming,” Gaara said. He walked with Lee to the room and looked relatively surprised by the massively overgrown ivy plant hanging all across the ceiling in the room.

A man with sunglasses and dark hair approached their group. Lee quickly greeted him. “Hello, Shino! It is good to see you!”

“It is good to see you too, Lee,” he said. “You must be Shinki’s father.”

“And Yodo’s and Araya’s. My name is Gaara.” The two shook hands and Gaara added, “I like the ivy you have.”

“Oh, thank you,” Shino said, “It’s mostly a home for my beetles.”

Gaara reeled back so fast at that Lee had to catch him. He looked horrified. “You keep it just so your beetles can feed on it?!”

Shino, despite the sunglasses, looked surprised. “Yes, I’m an insect specialist. I breed rare species of insect. My history was on the forms your children had you sign. Are you uncomfortable with bugs?”

Gaara couldn’t respond, Lee could feel him shaking with what he assumed was rage, so his kids told Shino that their dad worked with plants for a living.

Thankfully after that no other teachers offended Gaara and his love for plants. The math professor was very nice, the music instructor was nice if a bit blunt, and the gym teacher was very happy to see Lee and they both took a moment to catch up. Gaara didn’t know who she was, but Lee introduced her as TenTen, a childhood friend of his. When she heard what Gaara did for a living she asked him how do bring an orchid back from the brink of death. She had apparently nearly killed her husband’s favorite plant. Gaara did what he could with not being able to see the plant for himself.

“TenTen’s husband is named Neji. Hopefully one day you will get to meet him.”

“One day?” Gaara questioned, brow quirking up.

“He has always preferred to keep to himself. He still will not tell me exactly what he does for work, but I am sure it is very serious and secretive,” Lee explained as they walked. Gaara hummed as he listened.

“This is our art room, dad,” Araya said as he tugged on Gaara’s sleeve. When they walked in they found a very pale man with an equally pale blond boy by his side. There was a blonde woman with them too but her complexion was less terrifying to look at.

The kids greeted the boy. “Hi Inojin.”

“Hey guys,” he said back, “What’s up?”

“Inojin’s dad is our art teacher,” Yodo informed Gaara. Gaara nodded in response.

The pale man introduced himself as Sai, completely ignoring Lee. His wife said he had never been great with socializing. Gaara looked like he wasn’t sure about him. Lee didn’t really blame him.

“Hi Mrs. Yamanaka,” Sarada walked up and said hello to the blonde woman.

She knelt down a little. “Hi Sarada, sweetie, how’s your mom doing? She miss me at all?” She winked after that, but Sarada didn't really notice.

“She’s okay…”

“It’s so nice of Lee to help her out, isn’t it?”

“Yeah…” Sarada turned back and looked at Lee, who was watching Metal and Araya lift up various drawings.

Lee, Metal, and Sarada were walking back home after everything. “Papa?”

“Yes Metal?”

“Can I invite Shinki, Yodo, and Araya over some time?”

Grinning, Lee stopped and looked at his son. “Of course! If you are comfortable around them, I think it would be wonderful! We should invite their whole family over to dinner!”

Sarada pouted at him. “Oh, so you’re not going to invite me?”

Immediately Metal flinched and jumped away from her, waving his hands defensively. “No, no, no! W-we could invite you! I-I had just thought you would want to spend time with ChoCho!”

Sarada looped her arm around Metal’s neck with a grin. “I’m just teasin’, you big dope. You should invite them over. Make yourself some more friends besides all of us.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've just always wondered about Sakura raising Sarada when Sasuke is never around. So according to ME and me Specifically- Lee helped her.  
> Lee helped watch Sarada while she was at work and Gai and Kakashi helped raise her with him. Gai and Kakashi are basically her pseudo-grandparents too. Sakura tries her best, but she's a freaking doctor. They work crazy hours. She needs help.
> 
> And thus, Sasuke is a flake.


	6. Flirting

Early Saturday morning was one of Lee’s favorite times with Metal. The shop didn’t open until nine and they usually got two hours to spend together and do what they wanted. Today they were going for a big family walk with Kakashi and Gai and the dogs. Metal had the two smallest on leashes ahead of him, Lee had three, and Gai had the last three while Kakashi pushed him in his chair.

“I can walk! I’m sure of it, Kakashi!” Gai was exclaiming loudly, trying to wriggle up out of the wheelchair.

“You can walk once we’re at the dog park and not on a hill,” Kakashi said. “The doctor told you nothing uphill. You know that.”

Gai was huffing unhappily, but Metal fell back closer to them and said, “Doctors are very smart, grampa! They went to school for twelve years!”

Reaching out to ruffle little Metal’s hair, Gai chuckled. “Not quite, but yes, you’re right, Metal. They’re very smart. I guess I have no choice but to listen to them, huh?”

Metal grinned at him and dashed back forward with the two little dogs running excitedly by his side. “How did we get so lucky to have a grandson like that, eh Gai?” Kakashi asked, leaning down close to his head.

“Well, he was raised right!” Gai cheered, making his son flush and look back at the two of them. Lee said thank you and returned to keeping track of his rambunctious son. Metal reached the dog parked three full minutes ahead of them and let the two tiny dogs loose.

Gai got out of his chair as fast as he could and went to play fetch with Metal and all the dogs. Kakashi brought his wheelchair over to a bench and plopped himself down with a sigh. Lee walked over and stood by his side. He watched his father hobbling around on his cast with a small smile. No doctor on earth could ever get his father to resign himself to a sedentary life. Pain be darned, he was going to spend his time on his feet as long as he could.

“So I hear Metal’s made some new friends,” Kakashi suddenly said. Lee blinked at the comment. Usually he just sat and read or played with the dogs. Today he felt like making conversation.

Lee smiled wider. “Yes, he has. They are new in town.”

“Good for him,” Kakashi said, pushing himself up off the bench. “I was beginning to think he would be too nervous to ever try and make any new friends.” He was getting the wheelchair ready to bring to Gai. He could see him slowing down and he knew he would be needing it, and his pain pills, soon.

“Actually, he did not really need to try,” Lee said, following him. “They got on right away and the three of them really seem to like him.”

A quick glance back and Kakashi said, “Good to hear. At least somebody appreciates him besides Sarada.”

Lee joined in the playtime with the dogs for a good hour before he announced that he needed to head to the shop to get things ready. “You can spend some more time with your grandparents, okay Metal?”

“Okay, Papa!”

Lee made up four batches of vanilla cupcakes first thing when he got back. After washing his hands, of course. He decorated two batches with pink frosting and cute little pink blossoms and the other two batches were decorated to look like little frogs. He had just started a batch of cinnamon when his family got back. He called a happy greeting to them and resumed his mixing.

“Papa, you should do another batch of strawberry ones!” Metal shouted as he scurried to the sink.

“Strawberry?” Lee smiled. “All right, would you grab the recipe then, sweetie?”

“Yes, Papa!” Metal nearly tripped over his own feet as he ran into the apartment.

There was a knock on the front door as the Lees slid their next batches into the ovens. They went to check who it was. The shop wouldn’t open for another twenty minutes, but if they were being visited by a family friend they wouldn’t be surprised.

Metal hopped onto the stool and over the counter to rush to the front. He opened the door and beamed. “Hello, Sarada!”

“Hi, Metal,” she said. She looked up at Lee with a bit of a sheepish smile. “My mom just got called in and I was wondering if I could spend some time with you guys…”

“Of course, come right in! You and Metal could work on homework if you would like!” Sarada made a face at that and Lee laughed. “All right, well if the homework does not sound appealing then perhaps the two of you could clean the tables.”

Sarada looked at the tables, shrugged, and said, “Okay.” She and Metal grabbed the bottles of cleaner and the rags and went to work. She paused at one point when she heard barking, but dismissed it pretty quickly. She knew from experience what went on next door.

The dojo opened at the same time as the cupcake shop did. It made for a few collisions outside between sweet loving old ladies and excited, energetic kids, but nobody got hurt… this time. It did help with business, though, to have a bunch of hungry twelve year olds running into the shop for an after practice treat.

One thing Lee would never get used to was all the flirting he would be the recipient of during the course of a day. He had come to learn that a lot of single women would go to his shop with their friends over the years. They of course would always comment on how well built he was, sometimes even reaching out to touch his arms. He had never really enjoyed the touching, but the kind words were appreciated. The fact that he had a child seemed to only add to the amount of attention he got. Kakashi had told him it was because women like a man who was sensitive and really liked a man who liked kids. Lee had asked himself why anyone wouldn’t like a kid as cute as Metal. (Kakashi trying to explain that wasn’t what he meant only confused Lee, so he stopped trying.)

Today he was the subject of more flirting. Four young women who he knew well as repeat customers were asking him if he had found anyone to spend his life with. “I have my family, if that is what you’re asking!” he said.

One of the women leaned forward, revealing a bit of her chest to him, and said, “No, what we meant was if you’re still single.”

Lee sighed. “I am. I do not have time for dating. Metal is the most important thing in my life, I must focus on him!”

“Oh, Lee,” one of the women cooed. “That’s so sweet, but you need to make time for yourself too. Maybe someone will just walk into your life and you’ll realize you had been missing something all along.”

Sarada was making kissy faces at Metal in the kitchen. Metal, in response, was silently gagging and pointing into his own mouth. Lee could hear Sarada’s lip smacking noises and glanced back at the scene.

“That is a nice thought, Keiko,” Lee said. “But I have everything I need right here with my family and my shop.”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope everyone likes what I post. I want to continue this more. It's been a long time coming....
> 
> I needed to post something. If I didn't, this would never see the light of day.
> 
> Yes, there's mistakes everywhere. I know. Please help me find them. I am a mess.


End file.
